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7 . U TES Sg il monte a Editor's Report ' . Continued from Fiat Page i | "AS most of us know, our Government is composed ’. Of three principal parts, namely, (1) the Executive _ branch, headed by the President and members of his +Cabinet, who direct various administrative depart- » ments; (2) the Legislative, comprising both Houses of ~ Congress, and (3) the Judicial, which 1s, of course, the ‘Bupreme Court. Its function is to pass upon the je- > gallty of acts of the Executive branch or laws passed «by the Legislative branch tn the interest of our citizens ‘Bnd to Interpret ‘the Constitution, . : While all three branches of the Government are “supposed to be equal, it is the will of the majority of “the people which must in the long run prevail. It is through the House of Congress that the will of the people is presumed to be most accurately and directly ~“Tepresented, although it powerfully.influences the . Executive branch, too, and more subtly the Supreme : Court. . , : * * * . . - ‘A® EXCELLENT “EXAMPLE of how the three branches affect one another when in disagrees “ment was the hassle over the ‘s0-called Tidelands, “Tneaning the land under water, but off-shore, of the ‘t States bordering the oceans. ; a“ . California and Texas Hcensed some oil companies ‘bo drill for oi] off their shores. Along came the Depart- ment of the Interior, representing the . Executive *branch’s point of view, and said that off-shore, under-water land was the property of the Federal Gov- - ernment. If any oil was found the revenue belonged “ to the Federal Government. _ This controversy between two of the three branches of the Government obviously came before the third, the Supreme Court. They ruled in favor of the Federal - Government. . , ’ However, in spite of the fact that only a Tew States = to gain, the question of States‘ Rights versus «Federal control is so zealously guarded by the people's representatives that they Passed a law, and passeti it by a two-thirds majority over the subsequent veto of - President Truman, which specifically gave those Tide- lands to the States. . The Supreme Court does not operate in a vacuum, although in recent cases it may have seemed to, It also must respond eventually to the will of the peopie, If, therefore, Supreme Coort decisions interpret the law in a way which does not meet with the 2pproval of the mafority of our citizens, it is up to them to make their views heard by their representatives in Congress, which is most immediately answerable to the people’s - Will, Then tt tg UP to those representatives to over- ride the interpretation of the court by enacting laws 60 specific as to not permit of interpretation_other then-thet desired by the people. ay ah *